Songbird of the Sorrows Summary: Braidee Otto’s Romantasy Debut
TL;DR: The Short Version
Princess Aella Sotiría was handed to a spy order at the age of seven.
Seven years later, the Aviary sends her back into the world as a decoy princess with one task: enter the autumn kingdom of Eretria, compete in Prince Keres’ Royal Trials, and hold every eye while others steal a legendary weapon.
Songbird of the Sorrows is the first book in Braidee Otto’s Myths of the Empyrieos series, an epic romantic fantasy set in a realm fractured into four seasonal kingdoms by a divine war.
The story follows Aella’s double life as a trained operative and a royal daughter, along with the spies, royals, and captives who shape her mission.
- Genre: Epic romantic fantasy with dark, suspenseful turns.
- Central figure: Aella, a Songbird operative posing as a princess.
- Main tension: Aviary duty against personal loyalty and love.
- Key ideas: captivity and freedom, masks and identity, the cost of magic.
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Characters in This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Aella Sotiría (Starling / El) | Secret Princess of the Sorrows trained as an Aviary Songbird who competes in the Eretrian Royal Trials. |
| Raven (Draven) | Commander of Alpha Flight and an elite Nightwing assassin who becomes romantically involved with Aella. |
| Nyssa (Sparrow / Sarra) | Aella’s closest friend and fellow Songbird who poses as her handmaiden in Vilea. |
| Prince Keres Selmonious | Crown prince of Eretria who wields decaying magic and holds Aella captive. |
| Lord Malis (The Eagle) | Supreme leader of the Aviary who assigns Aella’s mission and controls her through threats. |
| Xan (Lyxander) | A man carrying vast intrinsic magic who is imprisoned and transported as a “weapon.” |
| Lady Titaia | Prince Keres’ cousin who opposes his cruelty and assists Aella twice. |
| Melantha (Myna / Lyna) | A Nightwing in Alpha Flight who poses as a handmaiden and helps Aella free Xan. |
| Lark (Lars / Lucaz) | A Nightwing in Alpha Flight and Nyssa’s brother. |
| King Cadmus | Aella’s great-grandfather and founder of the Aviary order. |
| King of the Sorrows | Aella’s father, who surrendered her to the Aviary after her mother’s death. |
| Kallias (Kal) | Prince of the Sorrows and Aella’s older brother. |
| Lady Calliope | Owner of The Muse in Maricious who has the gift of sight and aids the Aviary. |
| Leto, Pan, and Eleni | Performers of the traveling troupe Thíasos ton Theíon who help Alpha Flight reach Vilea. |
| Captain Nikolas | Captain of the ship The Nightingale. |
| Skiepo | Elderly black-market graver in Elotia who sells somniseed. |
| Sphinx | Mythical winged feline bound by a collar to guard Keres’ trial chamber. |
| King Daedalus and Queen Atalana | Rulers of Eretria and parents of Prince Keres. |
| Heron (Cheron) and Lory (Lorenzo) | Operational members of Alpha Flight. |
| Jorah | Prince Keres’ royal guard who tortures Aella during her captivity. |
| Lady Lydia, Lady Cynna, Lady Helen, Lady Zina, and Dehlia | Noblewomen competing against Aella in the Royal Trials. |
Songbird of the Sorrows Summary: Full Story Breakdown
Spoiler warning: the following section recounts the plot of the book, including its ending.
The realm of the Empyrieos was shaped by four wind gods, the Anemoi, and later split by a God War into four seasonal kingdoms.
Arkhadia holds the northern winter, Eretria the eastern autumn, Reveza the western spring, and the Sorrows the southern summer islands.
Magic runs on two systems. Goiteía is carved into skin with a graver and drains the user’s lifespan. Theïkós is elemental bloodline magic inherited by royal families from the gods.
Princess Aella Sotiría was born dead until her mother gave up her soul magic to give her life. Grieving and distant, her father handed the seven-year-old to the Aviary, a spy order of Songbirds and Nightwings led by the Eagle, Lord Malis.
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A decoy took her place on the Isle of the Winds.
Aella spent seven years training in combat, espionage, stealth, and dance, hiding her ashen-blonde hair and blue eyes behind a goiteía earring. She manages her nightmares with somniseed bought from the graver Skiepo.
She passes her final Fledgling test by stealing three items, including a gold-tipped quill from the Eagle’s desk. At the Naming ceremony she drinks from a magical kylix and receives the codename Starling, while Nyssa becomes Sparrow.
The ceremony turns fatal when a recruit named Luci collapses and dies after the magic rejects her. Lord Malis then summons Alpha Flight, made up of Raven, Lark, Myna, Heron, Lory, Starling, and Sparrow.
Malis reveals that the King of Eretria has obtained a weapon capable of destroying the realm.
Aella is ordered to step forward publicly as Princess Aella, charm an Eretrian ambassador, travel to Vilea, and compete in Prince Keres Selmonious’s Royal Trials as a distraction.
The Eagle threatens Nyssa’s life to secure her obedience. Aella attends a royal banquet with her father and her brother Kallias, hosted for the ambassador Lord Yiannis.
Alpha Flight departs aboard The Nightingale under Captain Nikolas. In the city of Corinth, Aella and Raven finally act on their long-suppressed attraction, breaking the Aviary rule that forbids love.
The Flight travels with Thíasos ton Theíon, a performance troupe led by Leto, who carries shadow nymph blood, and his brother Pan. Their caravans carry the team into Vilea unnoticed.
At the marble Palace of Eretria, Aella meets Prince Keres, whose theïkós magic is decaying, and his observant cousin Lady Titaia. She joins five noble competitors: Lady Lydia, Lady Cynna, Lady Helen, Lady Zina, and Dehlia.
In the first trial, candidates descend into dark underground chambers. Aella answers the Sphinx’s riddle correctly with “Darkness,” then notices the creature is bound by a cruel goiteía collar.
She accepts Titaia’s request to help free the Sphinx. In the mountain tunnels she bargains with the creature, agreeing to uncarve the collar in exchange for learning what it guards: the secret weapon.
While underground, Aella overhears Keres raging about failed experiments on human “vessels.” The second trial locks candidates inside a subterranean labyrinth hunted by armed guards.
Aella recalls an ancient legend, keeps her left hand against the wall, avoids pit traps, and outpaces her pursuer to reach the victors’ balcony. The third trial is a talent showcase.
Working with Pan and Eleni, Aella performs an aerial silk dance that earns a standing ovation from Queen Atalana. She secures a place among the final three alongside Lydia and Cynna.
During a grand masquerade ball, Aella keeps Keres occupied on the dance floor while Raven and the Nightwings enter his secret rooms, nullify the Sphinx’s collar, and take the weapon.
Raven says farewell and leaves with half the Flight. Aella stays behind with Myna, Nyssa, and Heron to maintain cover.
Keres discovers the theft and ambushes Aella in his study. He locks an agonizing goiteía collar around her neck that drains her life force and chains her in a hidden dungeon.
For days, Keres and his guard Jorah interrogate and torture her, cutting her thighs with blades and force-feeding her mad honey, a narcotic that causes hallucinations, tremors, and convulsions.
Lady Titaia uses her royal bloodline access to open the locked dungeon door. Myna and Nyssa rescue Aella, and the group escapes by servants’ sky-carriage.
They reunite with Heron and ride through the ancient forest to an abandoned homestead where Raven, Lark, and Lory wait with their cargo. Aella is left physically scarred and traumatized.
Eretrian soldiers attack the homestead. When a soldier corners her, Aella’s suppressed wind theïkós magic surfaces, an origin power believed to belong only to the gods, and she suffocates him.
Myna witnesses the display and promises to keep it secret. Suspicious of the heavy, chain-clinking crate the Flight has been hauling, Aella sneaks out at night and unties the tarp.
Inside an iron cage she finds not an object but a living man, bound in chains, a goiteía collar, and a leather muzzle. He introduces himself as Xan, or Lyxander.
Xan carries immense intrinsic theïkós magic. Prince Keres had captured him to siphon that power into human vessels.
Alpha Flight sails back to the Sorrows aboard The Nightingale and delivers the caged Xan to Aviary headquarters. Lord Malis reprimands Aella for her capture but celebrates obtaining the weapon.
Suspicious of Malis, Aella enters his private study and finds hidden research titled An Instructional Guide for Theïkós Transference. The papers show Malis intends to extract Xan’s magic and absorb it, a procedure that will kill him.
In Braidee Otto’s novel, Aella refuses to let another innocent being be destroyed. She aligns with Myna, who reveals her real name is Melantha.
Using her wind magic, Aella suffocates and incapacitates the dungeon guards without killing them. She and Myna unlock Xan’s cell and remove his collar.
With help from Calliope and Kash at The Muse, they disguise Xan and escort him to a vessel bound for open waters. On the docks, Xan touches Aella’s face, sending a surge of magical light through her, and thanks her before sailing away.
Aella watches his ship disappear into the night, scarred but resolute, prepared to face the wrath of both Prince Keres and the Eagle.
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Who Should Read Songbird of the Sorrows?
Readers of romantasy who want a mission-driven plot alongside a central romance may find this book suited to their tastes.
The story pairs a spy infiltration storyline with royal court politics and deadly competition.
The novel also suits readers who prefer a dark tone, including captivity and torture sequences, a magic system with visible costs, and a heroine with a hidden bloodline ability.
Those who enjoy first-person narration, episodic pacing, and travel across multiple settings will recognize the structure.
Readers looking for a standalone story should note this is book one of a planned two-part series, and the ending leaves Aella facing consequences from two powerful enemies.
Quotes from Songbird of the Sorrows
“I WAS BORN DEAD. Before the gods saw fit to grant me life. Before my mother surrendered her soul to save mine.”
“Don’t ask questions. Obey your orders. Respect your masters. But most of all, love no one.”
“You are strong, Aella of the Sorrows,” he breathes the words, like a prayer. “You are strong enough for this.”
“You can always tell when a person has adventure in their blood and dreams in their soul,” the captain says, a glimmer of respect in his eyes bringing a small blush to my cheeks. “They’re the ones who stand at the helm when the oceans are rough. Even if there’s no promise of making it through the storm.”
“We don’t get to choose the things that happen to us, Starling. Those decisions lie solely in fate,” he finally replies, and the weight shatters as quickly as it appeared. “What we do get to choose is how we respond to them. Whether we stay the same or let them change us.”
“Lost your song, little bird?”
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Book Snapshot
- Genre and Subgenre: Epic Romantic Fantasy / Romantasy
- Core Narrative Tropes: Undercover spy infiltration, royal marriage trials, secret princess and hidden identity, forbidden romance, living weapon and magical captivity
- Tone and Atmosphere: Lyrical, atmospheric, romantic, dark, and suspenseful
- Primary Conflict: Aella must navigate Keres’ deadly Royal Trials to cover Alpha Flight’s theft of Eretria’s secret weapon while surviving capture, torture, and a conspiracy inside her own order
- Pacing Style and Plotting: Fast-paced and episodic, moving through the Sorrows, a sea voyage, the Vilea court, and an escape through the forest with escalating stakes
- ISBN: 979-8217153824
- Pages: 400
- Book Structure: 39 chapters, preceded by trigger warnings, pronunciations, a glossary, a playlist, and a map, and followed by character art and author acknowledgements
- Publisher: The Dial Press
- Series: Book 1 of 2 in Myths of the Empyrieos
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